Carlos Ruiz

September 19, 2010

It was as poignant a moment a collision at home plate could be. Not quite a passing of the torch or a gathering of great baseball minds, but something deeper than that. It was as fleeting as any pitch in a game, but no less trenchant.

There, piled in a heap in front of home plate on a bang-bang play to end the visiting half of the fourth inning during Friday night’s game between the Phillies and Nationals were two catchers. There was Pudge, the veteran from Puerto Rico, often regarded as the best backstop of his generation in a line of great catchers with fantastic nicknames.

Yet there he was being helped up off the ground by an up-and-comer from Panama nicknamed, Chooch. In his fourth full big-league season after being converted from the infield, Chooch Ruiz isn’t any threat to Pudge’s 10 seasons in which he batted .300 or his 13 Gold Glove Awards, but when it comes to October there are very few catchers in baseball history as good as Carlos Joaquin Ruiz. In 11 World Series games, the .353 batting average and 1.194 OPS is nothing to sneeze at. Mix in 10 games in the NLCS and Ruiz’s average holds steady at .349 with 10 of his 22 hits going for extra bases.

Not even the great Johnny Bench’s postseason stats would be nearly as good as Ruiz’s if his 1976 World Series performance hadn’t skewed the numbers.

So yes, Pudge Rodriguez knows all about Chooch Ruiz. Helped off the ground after Friday night’s collision, the future Hall of Famer took a long second to give his counterpart a tap on the head and a few kind words of respect.

That pause and acknowledgement from Pudge played louder than any “Choooooooch!” cheer from the fans at Citizens Bank Park.

“He’s a popular player because he plays the game hard,” Rodriguez said. “He calls good games and he does the job every day. He’s a fan favorite because he plays hard and does the things he needs to do. He’s being playing great since he got to the big leagues and he’s also doing a tremendous job in the playoffs.”

Pudge shrugged as if this was all common knowledge around big league clubhouses. But often overlooked in the Phillies lineup because of his better known teammates, the fact that Ruiz, 31, is flirting with batting .300 and reaching base at a .400 clip is a bit of a surprise. However, to those familiar with Ruiz’s role with the Phillies, to call him the MVP of the 2010 regular season is not really as outlandish as it sounds.

Sure, there are things that fans grasp onto like Ruiz’s serious demeanor, earnestness and unquenchable desire to win baseball games. He talks to his mother at home in Panama every day often about his hopes for his teammates. Ruiz is like the fans in that he is selfless in his desire for the Phillies to do well.

Who doesn’t like a serious man?

But who can fault Ruiz for taking it so seriously? It’s always big deal to Ruiz. Bullpen coach and catching instructor Mick Billmeyer says if there is one fault Ruiz has in his game it’s that he cares a lot. If a pitcher has a bad outing, Billmeyer says Ruiz looks at it as a reflection on him. Even when pitchers shake him off, Ruiz takes it seriously.

Even though Phillies pitchers have held the opponents to a .250 batting average with Ruiz behind the dish, including a miniscule .198 in 10 games by newcomer Roy Oswalt, it’s those 849 hits in more than 900 innings behind the plate that Ruiz takes to heart.

“He takes it very personally,” Dubee said. “In the three years here he has grown so much as a catcher it’s phenomenal. He’s the leader of our club back there defensively. He takes charge and he’s not afraid to sell his case and explain to pitchers what he’s seeing and they have great trust in him.”

The main reason why the Phillies have a three-game lead over the Braves in the NL East is because the team’s pitching has been so good. With guys like Oswalt, Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels heading up the starting rotation, the Phillies’ pitching is as deep as any team in the majors. But it’s not like Ruiz squats behind the plate and waits for the ball to arrive. No, he’s an active participant in the team’s pitching success.

The truth is Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels might not be as good without Ruiz back there.

“He has a lot of intangibles. One is he has really good vision back there. He has a great sense of where hitters are trying to go and what hitters are trying to do. That’s vitally important for a front-line catcher,” Dubee said. “Another thing he does is he puts a lot of energy into whatever he puts down for a pitch.”

Most telling is how much credit Halladay gave Ruiz after his perfect game last May, as well as the fact that in his second start with the Phillies Oswalt put all his faith in his catcher and allowed Chooch to guide him through. In the nine starts since Ruiz has been Oswalt’s wingman, the pitcher has gone 7-0 with a 1.55 ERA.

Hey, Ruiz is a catcher first so the fact that the Phils’ pitchers have a 3.37 ERA with him back there and a losing record when he is not is significant. Plus, his hitting prowess is not just an October thing either. No, Chooch is not quite the new Pudge, but the Phillies would be hard pressed to find a better big-game performer in franchise history...

July 02, 2010

PITTSBURGH — Sometimes the easiest thing to do is also
the hardest one to accomplish. Yeah, that sounds like a trick or some sort of
weird riddle, but really, when one looks at the predicament the Phillies have
backed themselves in to, it makes perfect sense.

Yes, Chase Utley likely will be out until September
recovering from surgery on his right thumb to reattach the ligament to the bone
where it belongs. And yes, Placido Polanco — he of the one who does all the
little things — is probably out until August so he can recover from a chronic
case of tendonitis in his biceps and a bone spur on his elbow.

Then there is Chooch Ruiz, who we don’t know what to
expect. Anyone familiar with Brian Westbrook or Keith Primeau understands how
concussions can affect a pro sports career. Considering that Ruiz went to visit
one of the preeminent sports concussion specialists in the United States while
in Pittsburgh on Thursday, it seems to be a significant development that he was
told not to go out on a rehab assignment this weekend. Chooch needs to let
things mend for a bit longer and rightfully the Phillies are allowing that to
happen.

So that’s a big chunk of the Phillies lineup that will be
out indefinitely. Utley, Polanco and Chooch gone with no return date set,
though we were assured it would be relatively soon based on basic prognosis and
guidelines from the medical people. That’s precisely where it gets complicated,
too, because two weeks is plenty of time for a club to watch its season
implode.

They say a team can’t win a pennant in [inset a month
here], but it most definitely can lose one.

That’s what the Phillies have to guard against. Though it
doesn’t seem like it from the bird’s eye view, it’s not unreasonable to believe
that the season hangs in the balance, right
now. Yes, general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. can stand pat and wait for his
guys to mend and/or start to hit. Considering that Utley, Polanco and Chooch
are out and the offense is still
struggling, it’s made for a maddening first half for the Phillies.

But a combined four RBIs from just two players over the
past two games in starts for Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels, including just a
lonely one against the last-place Pirates on Thursday night, doesn’t inspire
much confidence.

Here’s where he get to the easy and difficult part… yes,
it would make sense for Amaro to makea trade to add some power to the lineup
while Utley and Polanco get healthy. It also wouldn’t be such a bad idea to get
a catcher or some much-needed pitching depth, too. After all, if there is one
thing we’ve learned this season it’s that the Phillies are a flawed team. They
were a flawed team when they won the World Series in 2008 and when they went
back there in 2009, too. The difference is they did a better job at hiding
those ugly areas with trades and acquisitions that got them Joe Blanton, Scott
Eyre, Matt Stairs, Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez.

Ideally Amaro would like to follow that pattern again
since it has been known to work out pretty well. Plus, sometimes a trade has a
way of invigorating a club, kind of like the way getting Lee at the deadline did
last year.

All Lee did was put together the greatest postseason by a
pitcher in team history since Grover Cleveland Alexander in 1915… and against
the Yankees, Dodgers and Rockies, no less.

Obviously the Phillies should go out and make the next
big deal in order to keep it together until the big guns get back. Obviously,
Amaro is probably wearing out the battery on his Blackberry all day. The
problem the GM has, however, isn’t what player to get. That’s generally pretty
easy to figure out.

Instead Amaro has a problem with what he can give.

Nope, he doesn’t have much.

He does have Domonic Brown, though. A 22-year-old
star-in-the-making recently made the jump to Triple-A where he’s hitting .458
with two homers in seven games going into Thursday’s action. Ideally, the
Phillies would like Brown to remain in Allentown for the rest of the summer
where he could continue to develop with a September call up in the offing if
everything goes well.

Don’t think for a second that the Phillies are going to
dangle Brown as trade bait, either. With Jayson Werth in the last year of his
contract with a big winter of free agency looming, and the quickly aging Raul
Ibanez finished with his current deal after the 2011 season, Brown isn’t going
to have to wait too much longer.

But what could speed up the process is if the Phillies
keep on struggling with the bats and must
make a trade. What do they have to offer? Better yet, if teams know the
Phillies are desperate and Amaro is pushing to make a trade, why would any
self-respecting GM just make it easy for him?

If the Phillies are hurting and have very little
leverage, opposing GMs are going to make them pay.

Back in March we suggested that it might not be a bad
idea to shop Werth, which understandably, was greeted with more than a few
folks sending messages asking if I had taken leave of my senses. I understood
why folks were ripping me and accept that some of them might even make really good
points.

But that doesn’t mean my logic was faulty.

Where Amaro has his best options is with Werth and Brown
and there is a report out there that this theory is being tested. Knowing that
Lee was traded over the winter so that Amaro could replenish the minor league
system that saw seven of its top 10 players traded, maybe flipping Werth for
some reinforcements is the best card the Phillies have.

May 31, 2010

Carlos Ruiz runs pretty well for a catcher. No, he’s not going to go from first to third on a single hit in front of the right fielder. He’s also not going to steal too many bags or stretch a double into a triple. That’s just not his game.

But Ruiz will always run full out even for something as simple as backing up first on a grounder to second. In fact, catching Ruiz in a forgetful state is a rarity. If he needs to be somewhere he will get there as quickly as possible.

That’s an important role on a team as good as the Phillies. After all, when the team clinches a spot in the playoffs or World Series, it needs someone like Ruiz to hustle to the mound in order to wrap up the pitcher into a bear hug. The best example of this was after Brad Lidge threw that slider past Eric Hinske to end the 2008 World Series. Not even a beat after the ball hit his glove, Ruiz was up and sprinting toward Lidge. Two steps into his dash, Ruiz flung his mask aside like he would if he were chasing down a foul pop behind the plate. A couple more steps and he had collided into Lidge’s arms seconds before Ryan Howard and the rest of the team buried him.

Ruiz is eerily consistent, too. After the Phillies sewed up the NLDS and NLCS in 2009, he was right there on top of Lidge by the time the last out was recorded. Certainly there’s rarely a time before the playoffs begin where a party starter like Ruiz is needed, however, because the Phillies have been so good lately the catcher has ironed out his routine pretty quickly. Undoubtedly, those abilities came in handy on Saturday night after Roy Halladay finished up his perfect game in Miami.

So when Ronny Paulino hit a sharp grounder to Juan Castro at third, Ruiz took a route to back up the play not too far from the base line so that when Howard picked the throw he could be a few steps closer to mob Halladay.

And just like in the postseason, Ruiz dashed toward his pitcher with his arms, eyes and mouth wide open. It’s almost as if any great moment can be officially complete for the Phillies unless there’s that shot of Ruiz running with unbridled joy bursting through the picture.

Just don’t take this as proof that Ruiz is some M.L. Carr type waving a towel and firing up the crowd, guess again. Not only could Ruiz get to an All-Star Game—thanks in part to all those sellouts at Citizens Bank Park—but he very well could be on the way to establishing himself as the best Phillies catcher ever.

OK, that’s a bit of bold line considering Ruiz is in his fourth full season in the majors with a .251 lifetime batting average and is already 31-years old. Actually, the fact that he even made it to the big leagues at all is a testament to his fortitude. Shifted to catcher even though he was signed as an infielder, Ruiz fought against himself and the position to succeed. As a result, he got the nickname, “Chooch,” because he used a derivation of that term as a self-insult to not be afraid of the ball when turning into a catcher.

Not only did a nickname emerge from the veritable trial by self-masochism in a mask, but also a really good catcher arrived, too. Initially, Ruiz was seen as a stop-gap or transitional backstop between Mike Lieberthal and some other guy. The problem with that idea was no other guy emerged. Sure, maybe someone will come along soon, but no time soon.

That means more Chooch… and that’s good.

So aside from his ability to get to the mound quickly, Ruiz is the catcher the Phils’ pitchers love to throw to. Watching Halladay in interviews after his perfect game, he was quick to give credit to his catcher.

“I can't say enough about the job that Ruiz did tonight, really," Halladay told reporters. I felt like he was calling a great game up until the fourth or fifth, and at that point, I just felt like I'd let him take over and go with him. He did a great job. Like I said, it was kind of a no-brainer for me. I'd just go out, see the glove and hit it."

It’s always big deal to Ruiz. Bullpen coach and catching instructor Mick Billmeyer says if there is one fault Ruiz has in his game it’s that he cares a lot. If a pitcher has a bad outing, Billmeyer says Ruiz looks at it as a reflection on him. Even when pitchers shake him off, Ruiz takes it seriously.

Indeed, he is a serious man. So much so that when asked which catcher he is most impressed with in the majors, Billmeyer's answer was quick and to the point.

"I like our guy," he said.

Now where does Ruiz rank amongst the past Phillies’ catchers? He doesn’t have as much experience as guys like Darren Daulton, Bob Boone, Andy Seminick, Clay Dalrymple and Lieberthal, but his career averages are just as good in most offensive categories. The difference is unlike Boone and Lieberthal, Ruiz doesn’t have a Gold Glove Award, but even there it’s just a matter of time.

Meanwhile, though Ruiz has been dealing with a sore shoulder he’s hitting this season like he usually does in the playoffs. Better yet, in 38 games Ruiz leads the league in pitches seen per plate appearance and is second in on-base percentage.

In other words, he’s a hitter now, too.

He’s a catcher first, though. When it comes to that, Ruiz spent the night after Halladay’s perfect game on the phone with his mother in Panama reliving the big night.

“It was special for me,” Ruiz told reporters.

That’s evident, and that’s a big reason why Ruiz has endeared himself to the Philly fans. He might not look like Johnny Bench back there, but he’s going to figure out how to get it done.

November 03, 2009

PHILADELPHIA—Already they are saying it might be the most clutch play in recent World Series history. Strangely, that’s not just from the hyperbolic New York press who has the innate ability to turn even the most mediocre ballplayers into Hall of Famers.

No, the lauding of Johnny Damon’s one-man, one-pitch double steal has been pretty universal. All across the board the praise as appropriately reflected the proper bias. But make no mistake about it… it was a great play.

Actually, it was one of those plays where everything had to go perfectly. If Damon was going to steal second and pop up out of his slide and take off for third where no one was within 45 feet because of the defensive over-shift for Mark Teixeira, any deviation would have thwarted the play.

First, pitcher Brad Lidge and catcher Carlos Ruiz have to fail to cover third base. Secondly, the throw to second by Ruiz not only has to be fielded by Feliz, but if it is caught at the bag Damon can’t go anywhere. If Feliz thought to catch the ball at the base, there was no way Damon could have gone anywhere.

More importantly, if Ruiz had been able to hang on to a foul tip with two strikes on Damon during his nine-pitch, five-foul plate appearance, the inning would have ended. Instead, Damon lived to see another pitch and laced a single to left.

On pitch later he went from first to third on a steal(s).

Crazy, but smart.

But was it really necessary? Sure, Damon taking off for third was an aggressive, heads’ up play. If Lidge throws a wild pitch he could easily score the go ahead run from third base, but with Teixeira or Alex Rodriguez due up it wasn’t really necessary to take third other than as an insult.

In other words, it was flashy (and smart) but much ado about nothing. After all, Teixeira was plunked on the arm before A-Rod doubled home the go-ahead run. Without the hit, it doesn’t matter where Damon was standing.

At least that’s the way Charlie Manuel sees it.

“A-Rod got a big hit,” Charlie said. “Damon going to third base, only thing Damon did by going to third base, he put his team in a better position to maybe score a run by a fastball or a high chopper or something like that. But the big hit was A-Rod. A-Rod's hit was the big hit because it was two outs. They got the big hit, Rivera came in, shut us down, and they got the win. They've been doing that to us.”

So while us media types hyperventilate over Damon’s smart move, ask yourself if it would have been as big a deal if he was playing in the World Series for Tampa Bay.

October 20, 2009

Watching Carlos Ruiz take that wide turn around second base with his short legs moving as fast as he could make them go, the first thought (obviously) was, “Wow! They’re really going to win this thing.”

It was as dramatic a victory as there could be in a postseason game without a home run. Needless to say it immediately conjured remembrances Matt Stairs’ home run to beat the Dodgers and Jonathan Broxton in Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS, too. That homer, off course, was the seminal moment of the 2008 postseason where we finally realized that, yes, the Phillies were going to go to the World Series and win it.

Those old feelings surfaced again last night as Jimmy Rollins circled the bases only to be tackled by Ryan Howard and the rest of the team when Chooch finally made it to home plate.

Unlike last year it’s much easier to put the Game 4 heroics in perspective because there is a frame of reference. We’ve seen this all before, which caused some of us to be less stunned than when Stairs hit his homer. Oh, it was dramatic alright, because, really, how many times does a team get to win such an important game?

Once in a lifetime, maybe, if the team is especially lucky or good? But never in back-to-back years in the same game of the championship series against the same pitcher, right?

Well, obviously these are not your father’s Phillies. Or you grandfather’s Phillies. There simply is no precedent for what we’re watching with this team.

Oh sure, in 1980 the Phillies had some pretty crazy comebacks. Take Game 5 of the NLCS, for instance. Back then the series was just a best-of-five so when Nolan Ryan took a three-run lead into the top of the eighth at the Astrodome, it didn’t look so good for the Phillies.

But Larry Bowa hit a single to open the inning. Bob Boone followed with another before Greg Gross beat out a bunt to load the bases. When Pete Rose walked to force home a run, the Astros turned to Joe Sambito and Ken Forsch to try and stave off more damage.

Two outs and a two-run single by Del Unser followed by a two-run triple from Manny Trillo and the Phillies went from four outs from elimination to holding a two-run lead with six outs to go.

Actually, Tug McGraw was four outs away in the eighth before the Astros rallied. It took a two-out double from Garry Maddox in the 10th to finally send the Phillies to the World Series.

OK, so maybe there is a precedent, but not one with an exclamation point or a moment that folks will talk about forever and ever. Make that two moments now. Stairs and Rollins linked by generations by stories fathers and grandfathers will pass down.

Indeed, that is unprecedented.

So the next thought that came after wrapping my head around what had just happened on the field when Rollins laced his game-winner into the gap, was, “OK, how are they going to blow this? Are the Phillies going to cough up three straight to the Dodgers or go belly up against the Angels or Yankees in the World Series?

“Would something like that just render the glory of Game 4 useless?”

Well, yeah… but it’s not going to happen. The days of epic failures and catchphrases like “1964!” are long buried in the attic of hazy memories like a sweater that doesn’t fit and has gone out of style.

The Phillies are going to the World Series again. They might even win it…

September 19, 2009

ATLANTA – OK, let’s take a break from all the injury talk and bullpen question marks for a day… or at least until J.C. Romero and Scott Eyre complete their bullpen sessions on Saturday.

And then there is the issue of Carlos Ruiz’s sprained wrist suffered on a play at the plate during the second inning on Friday night.

Oh, and J.A. Happ came out of the game after three innings because Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley saw him grimace after a play and alerted Charlie Manuel. Needless to say, Happ wasn’t too pleased about coming out of the game.

“There was a lot of debate and I lost,” Happ said after the game, adding that his argument to stay in the game included a lot of nodding and telling anyone who would listen that he was OK. “It seems like the player always loses those debates.”

But what about Ryan Howard? After all, for the second straight game he got drilled by a pitch on the same exact spot on the right forearm.

What are the odds of that happening?

“Probably pretty high and I beat them,” Howard laughed.

Ruiz’s injury as well as the injuries to the relief pitchers is of the most concern to Manuel, who believes Happ will take the ball in his next start. As far as Howard goes, well, those two shots to the forearm should have felt like nothing more than a bee sting to the big fella.

Make that, “The Big Piece,” as Manuel calls him.

“He’s all right,” Manuel said. “What did I tell you about getting hurt? Don’t be getting hurt. That’s three feet from Ryan’s heart. He ain’t dead by a long shot. If I had arms that big, hell, a baseball wouldn’t hurt me.”

It’s more like the other way around. Howard has been the one hurting the baseball these days. Actually, make that a lot of days since it appears as if The Big Piece is well on his way to becoming the most prolific slugger in team history.

Friday night’s pair of homers made Howard the first Phillie ever to bash 40 in four different seasons. And not only did Howard hit his 40<sup>th</sup> homer for the fourth season, but he did it with panache.

For Howard it’s 40 homers <em>AND</em> 120 RBIs in four straight seasons. Not only hasn’t a Phillie ever pulled off such a feat, but very few Major Leaguers have accomplished it. In fact, Howard became just the fourth member of the club on Friday night at Turner Field.

The Big Piece joins Babe Ruth, Ken Griffey Jr. and Sammy Sosa as the only sluggers in Major League Baseball history to slug 40 homers and drive in at least 120 RBIs in four straight seasons. That’s it.

But get this, only one other hitter accomplished the 40-120 trick in more than four straight seasons and that was The Sultan of Swat himself. The Babe did it in seven straight.

Here’s the amazing stat for Howard – in 717 career games, he has 620 RBIs. That comes to an average of 140 RBIs per 162 games, which is the career high of Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew and Jim Rice.

And that’s Howard’s average.

There’s more to consider, too. Howard doesn’t turn 30 until November 19, he never drove in more than 149 RBIs in a season which points to his uncanny consistency. However, the numbers that really stand out are the splits from August, September (and October) from the Big Piece.

Check this out: 91 of Howard’s 217 career homers have come in the last two months of the season. Additionally, 254 of his 620 career RBIs have come in the last months, too. That means Howard feasts on pitching late in the season when the games take on added significance.

Enjoy it folks… sluggers like this Howard kid don’t come around that often.

April 06, 2009

OK, maybe Brett Myers is just getting his work in? That can be the only explanation considering the Braves are tee-ing off on him. In fact, little Yunel Escobar ripped one high off the wall in deep left-center for a double. Myers was lucky, too, because it came inches away from being the fourth homer of the game.

Then again, before his late June demotion to Triple-A last season Myers was leading the Majors in homers allowed by a wide margin.

But unlike his first two frames, Myers stayed away from trouble. After the double, the pitcher whiffed Chipper Jones, got Brian McCann to pop out and Garrett Anderson to ground out to end the frame unscathed.

Nevertheless, Charlie Manuel got J.A. Happ up in the 'pen.

Meanwhile, Derek Lowe made it once through the Phillies lineup and finally got the first hit of the season. The honor goes to Carlos Ruiz whose ground-rule double inside the third-base bag.

October 10, 2008

The great Fernando Valenzuela is here at the park doing the commentary for the Dodgers’ Spanish language radio broadcast. I know this because Mike Radano came running over a few innings ago screaming, “You know how they say there are so many celebrities at games at Dodger Stadium? Yeah well, guess what? I just took a leak next to Fernando Valenzuela!”

Sometimes it’s a who’s-who of baseball greats in the men’s press box restroom. Besides, it’s good to know that even ex-baseball greats have to answer nature’s call, too.

Anyway, Phillies fans know all about Fernando Valenzuela. In 1981 the Phillies were the first team to beat him and derail “Fernando-mania!” Fernando also pitched against the Phillies in ’83 NLCS and was the only Dodger to win a game that series.

Better yet, Fernando pitched eight games for the Phillies during the strike-shortened ’94 season. In fact, I remember going to a game at The Vet with my old pal Ben Miller where we saw Fernando’s first game with the hometown team. In his first at-bat he clubbed a double.

I also remember Darren Daulton breaking his collarbone when he got nailed by a foul ball. As soon as it occurred you knew something bad happened because the noise from Daulton’s broken bone sounded like a gun shot.

Anyway, Cole Hamels faced four hitters in the fifth and notched a pair of strikeouts. So far Hamels has thrown 84 pitches with six strikeouts.

How much longer can Hamels go?

Derek Lowe continued to deal in the fifth, recording his 10th and 11th outs on ground balls before Carlos Ruiz and Hamels knocked out back-to-back singles. As a result, the Phillies got their first runner in scoring position.

It stayed there, though, when Jimmy Rollins flied out to left to end the inning.

They just showed all-time Dodgers great, Sandy Koufax on the TV here hanging above my head. If he is sitting where I think he is, Tommy Lasorda is directly behind him.

Great… Sandy Koufax is going to go home with pasta stains on his shirt and peanut shells in his hair.

“Dammit Lasorda, chew with your mouth closed…”

It goes without saying that Sandy Koufax was one of the greatest pitchers ever. Actually, it might be more apt to say he put together four of the greatest seasons in a row. Sandy was like a comet – he developed late and before anyone knew what they were looking at, he was gone. That actually enhances his legend because Koufax’s career was cut short because of that curve ball he threw. It simply put too much pressure on his arm until he just couldn’t do it anymore.

Legend has it that the pitch Koufax suffered for – the curve – was the best ever. No one before or since could chuck the deuce like Koufax. Brett Myers tried in the second, but Sandy’s old team posted the first run of the game set up by a leadoff single by Andre Ethier and a long double from James Loney.

But Myers limited the damage by getting a strikeout, a grounder and a fly ball, though his pitch count soared to 36.

Chad Billingsley brought the heat. To start the second the righty whiffed Pat Burrell and Jayson Werth with an overpowering array of pitches. Even though Greg Dobbs broke his bat fighting off a slider, he got just enough to get a two-out single.

That changed everything. Big time.

Carlos Ruiz laced a fastball into the gap in left-center for an RBI double then scored the go-ahead run when Myers, inexplicably, poked a slider into center for an RBI.

Yeah, that’s Myers’ second hit of the playoffs. And yes, he had just four hits during the entire season.

Brett Myers: Professional hitter.

Another two-out single by Jimmy Rollins set the table for Shane Victorino’s two-run single on a 2-2 pitch.

That hit set off epically loud “Beat LA!” chant that rattled the row homes in South Philly all the way up to Lombard.

These people… good fans.

Here’s the thing – it all happened with two outs. Better yet, it all happened without the long ball.

September 16, 2008

In baseball, it's never too difficult to figure out when the manager is going to get fired. Sometimes you can feel it coming in very much the same way in which you sense a really bad rainstorm. Dark clouds usually follow around torrential rain and doomed managers.

As a result, no one really wants to hang around when they know a storm is coming. Instead, folks move somewhere indoors where it's safe and hope the cable doesn't get knocked out.

Anyone who saw the Milwaukee Brewers up close this weekend couldn't ignore the signs that a storm was brewing. Nursing a four-game lead of the Phillies in the wild-card race when the weekend started, the Brewers slinked out of town with their tails between their legs after first-place had disappeared into thin air.

Worse, the players on the Brewers moved around as if they knew they were fighting a losing battle. One could hear footfalls when moving across the carpet in the visitors' clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park because the room was so quiet. If we didn't know better, it felt as if the walls were inching closer and closer by the minute to properly reflect the tightness emanating from the ballplayers.

Not only were they tight, but also the Brewers were tense, angry, helpless, confused and frustrated. They avoided eye contact with one another and spoke in whispers. When they walked they looked straight ahead and moved with stealth so as to not draw any attention as they attempted a silent getaway.

Indeed, it was a bad weekend for the Brewers.

"This series was a complete and total disaster," outfielder Ryan Braun said. "It couldn't have gone any worse. [The Phillies] couldn't have played any better. We couldn't have played any worse. We can only go in one direction from here. It's not going to get worse."

Braun is correct on that last point. It won't get any worse for the Brewers, who have lost 11 of the 14 games they have played in September. However, with 12 games to go the Brewers still are tied with the Phillies for first place in the wild-card race. That's the reason general manager Doug Melvin and owner Mark Attanasio decided manager Ned Yost had to go. Clearly the way the Phillies and Charlie Manuel ran circles around Yost's Brewers led to his ouster.

Nevertheless, it was an unprecedented move by the Brewers. In moving former Phillie Dale Sveum from the third-base coaching box to the manager's seat, the Brewers have conceded that if they are going to make it to the playoffs for the first time since 1982, they needed some big changes immediately.

"(Yost) didn't have all the answers for what is going on the last two weeks and I'm not sure I have all the answers," Melvin said during a news conference at a hotel in Chicago. "I'm not sure this is the right one, either."

From this vantage point it seems like the right move. In fact, while walking through the corridor in the basement of Citizens Bank Park near the clubhouses, the sense of frustration from the Brewers as they walked silently to the bus that would take them to the airport and then to Chicago, was enough to knock a guy over. Desperation oozed from the confused faces so rich and thick that you could drizzle it over pancakes.

At the same time one could not mistake Manuel and the Phillies' role in all of this. After all, it was Manuel who chose to use pitchers Jamie Moyer and Brett Myers on short rest during the series while Yost searched for excuses NOT to use the best pitcher in baseball in CC Sabathia on the similar amount of rest when his team was desperate for a win. It was also Manuel who signaled for a suicide squeeze bunt with catcher Carlos Ruiz at the plate because he had a hunch.

Meanwhile, Yost could not urge his hitters to be a little more patient at the plate against Myers, who tossed a complete-game shutout on just 95 pitches on just three-days rest. After the game even Myers could not understand why the Brewers' hitters were so quick to swing the bats. Didn't they realize he did not have his best stuff?

But the capper was when Yost chose to allow soft-tossing lefty Brian Shouse to pitch to the right-handed hitting Pat Burrell even though erratic but hard-throwing righty Eric Gagne was warmed up and ready to come into the game. Never mind the point that Burrell went to the plate hitting just .138 (4-for-29) during September and a .172 average since the end of July, and had an 0-for-3 mark with a strikeout against Gagne - Yost thought Shouse had a better chance at coaxing a ground ball from Burrell withtwo on and one out in the eighth inning of a tied game.

"I've got a lot of confidence in Shousie to get a ground ball and a double play," Yost said. "I thought Shousie could get the job done."

What gave him that idea? According to the aptly named web site, "Fire Ned Yost," the Brewers almost had a better chance of turning a triple play with Shouse on the mound than a double play.

In 2008, Brian Shouse has pitched to 132 batters with 0 or 1 outs in the inning. Of those 132 plate appearances, 77 have been with a man on first base, and 5 have resulted in double plays. While that's not as low a percentage as thetriple playhe likes to avoid, it's still hard to understand where Ned's faith in Shousie's GDP ability come from. Well, unless it's just faith, of course.

Shouse did get Burrell to hit a ground ball, but it rolled into the outfield to send in the go-ahead run. To add insult to injury, Shane Victorino followed Burrell's single with a three-run homer.

So as we walked past the Brewers as they hustled to get out of town, I couldn't help but wonder out loud, "They aren't going to let the manager get on the charter are they?"